FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: Michael Pollan talks shrooms, fish more toxic than ever, and perfect poached eggs
by Darya Rose | May 11, 2018
Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.
This week Michael Pollan talks shrooms, fish more toxic than ever, and perfect poached eggs.
Next week’s Mindful Meal Challenge will start again on Monday. Sign up now to join us!
Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!
I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.
Links of the week
- Michael Pollan — Exploring The New Science of Psychedelics – Fascinating conversation between two of my favorite thinkers on an incredibly important topic. Research into psychedelic drugs is consistently showing that 1-2 sessions (controlled and guided, obviously) can have profound beneficial effects on a number of mental health conditions, as well as ending addictive behavior. Behavior change is really hard, and anything with this much potential and so few risks and side effects deserves further examination. (The Tim Ferriss Show)
- Starting Monday, calorie counts on menus are going to be mandatory – This is a good read if for no other reason than it reminds you that a stupid turkey sandwich can have 700 calories. (Vox)
- Mercury rising: Are the fish we eat toxic? – This is so depressing I don’t even know what to say. I’ll simply remind you that environmental mercury contamination comes from burning coal. (ScienceDaily)
- The Belly Fat Battle – Terrible headline, but this article is actually an interesting examination of the potential causes of middle age waist expansion. Visceral fat is uniquely dangerous, but it still isn’t exactly clear why that is. (Scientific American)
- The Last Conversation You’ll Need to Have on Eating Right: The Follow-ups – Ironically, a follow up on the previous article that claimed to answer all your questions about nutrition. For the record, I disagree with them about hard vs soft cheese (e.g. vitamin K2) and La Croix (I don’t touch the stuff because it comes in plastic-lined cans). Other than that the advice is pretty ok. (Grub Street)
- Romaine Riddle: Why the E. Coli Outbreak Eludes Food Investigators – More follow up on the romaine lettuce outbreak and why it has been so hard to trace the source of contamination. If you hope to avoid these kinds of outbreaks it helps to know what the risk factors are and how regulations may help. (NY Times)
- America’s largest pork producer pledged to make its meat more humane. An investigation says it didn’t. – Oof. This one is hard to read. However I feel very strongly that if you choose to eat meat you should know what the true cost is to get it on your plate. Eat with your eyes open. (Vox)
- How a Low-Carb Diet Might Aid People With Type 1 Diabetes – I don’t often share articles about specific medical conditions that aren’t caused by lifestyle factors, but this new study is so surprising and the approach so simple I’m making an exception. (NY Times)
- Working together key to weight loss in relationships – Different types of relationships create different challenges for getting healthy. Unsurprisingly, the person you spend the most time with has a profound impact on your ability to make change. (ScienceDaily)
- This Is The Chillest, Easiest Way to Poach An Egg – Mind. Blown. (Lifehacker)
What inspired you this week?
Hi Darya,
Huge, long-time reader, first time commenter. Regarding seafood…it’s so unbelievably depressing. Do you personally avoid seafood all together? Or do you have some kind of guidelines you follow for purchasing seafood? Previously, I would just look for wild caught pacific salmon, for example, but that seems to not be enough now.
Thank you so much for what you do. I’ll need to write you a longer message soon so I can let you know how dramatically and positively you have impacted my life (and by extension, the lives of my loved ones).
haha, meant to say “Huge fan”…definitely not a giant!
I still eat seafood. I eat a lot of oysters, roe, and do still sometimes eat wild Alaskan salmon. I also eat sardines at home, and don’t worry about it too much when I go out (always at good restaurants I trust) since I don’t go out that often.
So happy to hear you’re crushing your healthstyle! I’d love to hear more.
The link on poached eggs is life changing! I tested it out and made perfect poached eggs for the first time. I have very little time to cook, so adding this method to my arsenal is hugely helpful.
re: the seafood article; so sad that we continue pollute the ocean and then fish in such an unsustainable way. To make it worse, the coal lobbyists come in and create Orwellian terms like, “Clean Coal Technology” to mislead the public about the danger. it’s like watching a car crash in super-slow motion
I’m fascinated by the use of psychedelics for medicinal purposes and I’m so excited Michale Pollan took it upon himself to write a book on these medicines. Yes, I said medicines. Excited the word is getting out!